Clinical factors that may influence outcome for stage II-III resectable rectal cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy or short-term radiotherapy

Abstract

Background. The aim of this study was to analyse clinical factors that may influence the effectiveness of conventional chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and short-term radiotherapy (RT) followed by delayed surgery in stage II-III rectal cancer patients. Methods: The results of the randomized trial (ClinicalTrials.gov, Identifier NCT 00597311) were analysed. 150 patients with stage II-III rectal cancer were randomized to two neoadjuvant treatment arms: convemtional CRT (50 Gy/25 fractions in 5 weeks, 2 Gy per fraction, and two cycles of 5-FU/Leucovarin, 400 mg/m² of fluorouracil i/v in combination with leucovorin 20 mg/m² i/v for 1-4 days on the first and on the fitth week) and short-term RT (5 Gy 5 fractions, total dose 25 Gy) followed by surgery at 6-8 weeks. Patients groups were homogeneous according to the sex, age, tumor site, clinical stage and other parameters. The univariate (Table 1) and multivariate (table 2,3) analysis of the predictive value of clinical factors on 5 y. OS and DFS was performed. [...].